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Welcome to Money Diaries where we are tackling the ever-present taboo that is money. We’re asking real people how they spend their hard-earned money during a seven-day period — and we’re tracking every last penny.
This week: “I’m a 30-year-old personal assistant living in London. I’ve lived here (after growing up in rural south Wales) for almost nine years and I love it. This means I will likely be a renter for the foreseeable. This often feels ridiculous given the amount I have in savings but I don’t want to compromise on where I live in London for the sake of owning a flat with a yearly interest rate that costs more than my current rent. I only started earning a decent wage in the last couple of years and have been enjoying being able to splash out on travel and more expensive clothes and still save a decent amount. I am a happy-go-lucky person (undoubtedly because of my privileged position) and I’m definitely embracing being 30, flirty and thriving while I still have very few financial commitments.”
Occupation: Personal assistant
Industry: Fashion
Age: 30
Location: London
Salary: £39,000
Paycheque amount: £2,526
Number of housemates: Two: D and P.
Pronouns: She/her
Monthly Expenses
Housing costs: £800 for my room in a three-bed flat.
Loan payments: £84 student loan. With last year’s annual pay rise I am now just about paying off the interest accrued each month (lol).
Pension? I have two pension pots from previous jobs and no idea how much is in them. I currently pay in 4% each month, which is matched by my employer.
Savings? £12.4k sitting uselessly in a Help to Buy ISA (way priced out of buying in central London), £19.3k in cash ISAs (saved for me by very generous grandparents), £8k Premium Bonds, £9.5k in a savings pot with a pretty decent interest rate, and £117 in an easy access saver (this was originally a buffer for when I go over budget every single month but it is now quite depleted).
Utilities: £98.16 for my third of water, gas, electricity, council tax and internet.
All other monthly payments: £37 phone contract, £10.99 Netflix.
Did you participate in any form of higher education? If yes, how did you pay for it?
I was always expected to go to a good university. I lived off my student loan, which also paid for my tuition; being Welsh, my loan is about a third of my English friends’. My parents paid my rent throughout university and I had a part-time job at the on-campus catering company for extra spending money.
Growing up, what kind of conversations did you have about money?
I don’t remember having many specific conversations about money but I was always aware of our general situation. For example, my dad was made redundant during the recession and I was well aware that we had to make some lifestyle changes. Then as I grew older, I knew we had more money because we were able to do things like go skiing. My parents both grew up in working-class families and worked very hard for the life they were able to provide for us. The one piece of advice I remember being given explicitly is never to buy anything that you have to pay off in monthly instalments. I pay heed to this except when it comes to my phone.
If you have, when did you move out of your parents’/guardians’ house?
I moved back home for a year after I graduated from university and moved out properly when I moved to London at 22.
At what age did you become financially responsible for yourself? Does anyone else cover any aspects of your financial life?
When I moved to London at 22 and got my first job with a monthly salary. It was a shock when my mum called to tell me she had cancelled my phone contract. During my first few years in London though, I only had to mention that I was short on cash and my dad would send me £100 on PayPal. This was definitely due to me being on such a low wage (shoutout to creative industries).
What was your first job and why did you get it?
When I was 17, I worked as a waitress/kitchen porter in a rural pub. I swapped to the bar as soon as I turned 18. Most of my earnings went on clothes, nights out and towards a girls’ holiday, though a big chunk did also go on repairs to my mum’s car — driving did not come naturally to me.
Do you worry about money now?
Yes and no. I worry that I’m spending too much and not saving enough. I saved stringently for five years to buy a house with an ex-boyfriend but I think my attitude changed after that didn’t work out. I don’t have a mortgage or any dependents so I might as well spend money on travel and fun things. I’m also aware how incredibly lucky I am that I have parents who would be able and willing to support me if it ever came to that.
Do you or have you ever received passive or inherited income?
The ISAs from my grandparents, if that counts?
8:30 a.m. — Wake up late after a bad sleep. I often sleep badly on Sunday nights but this time it’s my fault for drinking too much on the weekend. I can also feel period cramps coming on.
9 a.m. — Oh lordy, period cramps have progressed to severe. I answer some messages and emails while rolling around on the sofa. My lovely boyfriend, T, has made me a hot water bottle and is frantically frying an egg — I have to eat something before I can take my pain medication.
10 a.m. — Pain has subsided but I still have that horrible first-day-of-period feeling. Glad I am WFH. Fortunately I think it’s going to be a very quiet work week as my main boss is on a three-week holiday.
11 a.m. — Eat an entire packet of Milkybar Buttons. T has about four.
12 p.m. — Work is v. quiet so I decide to start prepping the kitchen for painting. Both my flatmates are away so I thought I’d use the time to give our pretty grotty kitchen a little spruce.
1 p.m. — Covered in bits of masking tape.
1:30 p.m. — Make T and me a bowl of strawberries, raspberries and blueberries with yoghurt for lunch.
4 p.m. — T and I have a quiet afternoon working side by side with the TV on in the background.
5 p.m. — Now I must paint.
6:30 p.m. — Give up on painting and leave mine to travel to T’s for the night, £5.15. He has a very early flight in the morning and is being picked up from his place. T is spending three weeks sailing in Croatia and I won’t see him until I fly out in a couple of weeks’ time so I want to spend (most of) the night with him.
7 p.m. — Pick up blue cheese and spinach to go with the gnocchi and mushrooms I had in my fridge. Also some sanitary items as I don’t think I have any at T’s. T pays.
7:30 p.m. — Gnocchi bake in oven and The Intern on Netflix.
9:30 p.m. — T’s flatmate gets back from a boxing class and we chat for a while.
10:30 p.m. — Definitely bedtime seeing as T has to get up at 3 a.m.
11 a.m. — I read for a little bit but can feel myself falling asleep.
Total: £5.15
3 a.m. — Wake long enough to hear T saying goodbye. He gives me a little smooch then I fall back asleep.
7:45 a.m. — Wake up and lie about contemplating life for a while.
8 a.m. — Oh damn. T’s flatmate is in the bathroom. Shouldn’t have contemplated life for so long.
8:15 a.m. — Shower and dress quickly. It’s easy to choose what to wear as I only brought one option.
8:40 a.m. — Gonna be late but still stop to pick up a pain aux raisins, £0.69.
8:45 a.m. — On the Tube to work, £3.40.
9:10 a.m. — Hurriedly make tea and eat my pastry before having a quick meeting with one of my bosses. He wants to send out an important bit of comms before lunch, which I’ll write for him.
12:15 p.m. — Two further cups of tea later and comms are finished and sent out. Every person in the office has popped over for a chat this morning — typical when you are trying to do something important.
12:30 p.m. — Grab a salad from the canteen and have lunch with some of the other PAs,£3.24.
1:30 p.m. — Trundle back to desk sadly. We always end up nattering away for ages when we eat lunch all together.
3:30 p.m. — That time of day. Hit a wall with work and desperate for chocolate. Apparently all the Reese’s Pieces were eaten last week. This is a nightmare.
3:40 p.m. — Having to make do with chocolate-covered dates that have been on my desk for ages. Actually quite nice… Eat another.
5 p.m. — Decide to leave early as everyone else seems to be doing the same.
5:15 p.m. — Stop at a fabric shop to buy some black hand dye, £3.95. I have a stain on a linen playsuit but I love it and don’t want to give up on it.
5:20 p.m. — Realise I need some ginger for dinner so I stop at a shop and end up buying ginger, sparkling water, tampons and hand soap, £5.50.
5:30 p.m. — On the bus home, £1.75. Call my mum for a chat.
6 p.m. — My bus stop is closed and we zoom past it. Walk in the vague direction of home still chatting to Mum.
6:15 p.m. — Witness a horrible man shouting at and then chasing a group of Hasidic Jewish schoolboys. They luckily make it into a school with a security guard. I hear another couple of groups heading down the road the other way and walk home in a different direction.
6:30 p.m. — Marinate tofu before frying it with some pak choi. Eat with noodles. Need my strength before I begin painting again.
8 p.m. — Omg. Painting is hard.
9 p.m. — I may regret starting this. The wall was a very dark blue and the only paint I found in the cupboard was white. How many layers is this going to take…
10:30 p.m. — Exhausted. Shall I read before I… Zzzzzzz.
Total: £18.53
7:15 a.m. — Hair wash day so time to get up.
7:45 a.m. — Stare at the kitchen wall for ages. Looks a bit better now the paint has dried but definitely going to need more coats.
8:15 a.m. — What have I been doing?! I’ve normally left by now. Leave for the bus,£1.75.
9 a.m. — Arrive at the office. Make a cup of tea and buy a yoghurt pot for breakfast, £1.
10 a.m. — Not much going on today. I always find it hard to be productive when it is quiet. Browse swimwear for my holiday and end up buying a red bikini that’s on sale, £28.20.
3 p.m. — We’ve been told to go home early to avoid travel disruptions later. Supposed to be meeting a friend in central but we decide to meet tomorrow instead. Yoga class has also been cancelled.
4 p.m. — On the bus, £1.75.
4:45 p.m. — I can’t bring myself to paint again. Finish off some work bits. God it is boring living alone.
6 p.m. — Spend some more time staring at my patchy paint job.
6:30 p.m. — Cook some pasta sauce from the freezer. Add some olives to it.
6:45 p.m. — Start watching Shameless. I’ve never seen it before and it has baby James McAvoy in it! He is so lovely.
7 p.m. — Omg it is so early. I miss my flatmates.
10 p.m. — Three episodes of Shameless later and I guess I’ll go to bed. Surely I won’t fall asleep that qui… Zzz.
Total: £32.70
8 a.m. — Wake up after quite a long sleep. My flatmate D is the same. A guy she was seeing for a while used to call us sleep brats, which we have reclaimed as a positive.
8:15 a.m. — I normally go into the office on Thursdays but I’ve got a haircut booked at lunchtime. It’s hard to get an appointment so I have to take what I can get.
8:30 a.m. — Make a cup of tea and have a slow start. Make a veggie sausage bagel.
9 a.m. — Start on work bits I’ve been avoiding.
11:15 a.m. — Morning has flown by. Time to leave for my haircut (it’s two minutes down the road).
1 p.m. — My hair looks so much better, £59 + £5.90 tip. It’s really hard to find people who know how to cut curly hair well and my hairdresser is so good and I love him.
1:15 p.m. —Walk home via the DIY shop to buy some more paint as I don’t think what I have left will cut it, £11.99. I also buy a peach to have with some yoghurt as a snack, £0.69.
2 p.m. — Forgot I agreed to go for a pedicure with my sister this eve! Apologise and tell her I’m meeting the friend I had to rearrange with yesterday.
4 p.m. — No wonder I avoid these dull admin tasks. Feeling a sense of accomplishment at getting through them. Heat up leftover pasta from yesterday for a late lunch/early dinner.
4:15 p.m. — Decide I still need to get my toes done so book an appointment for Monday, £25.
5 p.m. — Get the bus to meet my friend, £1.75.
6 p.m. — It’s happy hour!
10:30 p.m. — More than a few drinks later and we split our rather large bill… Oops, £64.90.
10:45 p.m. — Catch the bus home, £1.75. I try to call T but he isn’t answering. Rude. Get a message from friend thanking me for the evening. She’s not long out of a 10-year relationship and says it was just what she needed.
11:30 p.m. — In bed after downing a bottle of sparkling water in an attempt to stave off the hangover.
Total: £170.98
6:50 a.m. — Wake up early. Typical. Not feeling as bad as I thought I would though.
8:30 a.m. — Migrate to the living room to stare at kitchen wall for a while.
9 a.m. — Boss has made a last-minute change to his travel plans next week so I assess what needs sorting before the weekend. Also get an email from a partner to call them as soon as poss. Do these people not know I am hungover?!
9:30 a.m. — Find a meagre amount of bread in the freezer and make a very small veggie sausage sandwich. I really need to go food shopping.
12 p.m. — Had a very productive morning, all things considered. Didn’t know I had it in me.
12:15 p.m. — Crack open the fresh tin of paint and give the wall another coat.
1:30 p.m. — Friend video calls me; her parents’ dog is very unwell but she is doing okay. She says I can hang with her and her boyfriend this eve if I get v. bored but think I will just have a quiet night in.
1:45 p.m. — Force myself to finish a bit of comms I’ve been writing. There’s no rush but I know I will be pleased to have it ticked off my list next week.
3:15 p.m. — One more meeting and a quick call with my boss later and I am finished for the day! (We finish early on Fridays.)
3:30 p.m. — I have zero food in the house so I decide to be v. naughty and order pizza, £19.10.
3:35 p.m. — Video call with T. Aww, I miss him.
4 p.m. — Pizza has arrived! Sorry T, chat later. Sit on the balcony and eat my pizza in the sun.
4:30 p.m. — The wall is looking soooo much better. Start a deep clean of the kitchen as everything is all over the place after painting.
6:30 p.m. — Time flies when you clean. I have pulled literally everything off every shelf and found a drawer I didn’t know existed. I better go and do a little food shop.
6:50 p.m. — Pop into a discount shop to buy cleaning supplies: floor cleaner, fizzy toilet things and oven cleaning paste, £4.98. I then do a little food shop of fruit, fish, yoghurt, broccoli and crumpets to keep me going over the weekend, £13.29.
7:15 p.m. — Call my parents while walking back from the supermarket as I remember they are driving up to Dorset for the weekend. They have just arrived and we have a quick chat while they head to the pub.
7:30 p.m. — Open a beer and start cleaning the oven. It’s about to get wild.
9 p.m. — Well, it’s a start. One flatmate (D) is back on Sunday and I plan for the kitchen to be beautiful for her return. Have another beer and watch some more Shameless.
10:30 p.m. — Early night. I read a little, then obviously fall fast asleep.
Total: £37.37
8 a.m. — Wake up with awful eczema hands — I think sweating in my rubber gloves makes it flare up. Slather on some serious eczema cream.
8:15 a.m. — Make a tea to take back to bed while I read a little.
9:15 a.m. — Nice calm morning. Eat some yoghurt and fruit and watch Schitt’s Creek.
10 a.m. — Practically every person I know is away today so I am going to an exhibition (about Henry VIII’s six wives) at the National Portrait Gallery on my own. Get showered and head.
10:30 a.m. — Decide to get the bus all the way to the gallery as I quite enjoy a long bus ride reading, £1.75.
11:30 a.m. — The woman I buy my exhibition ticket from tentatively asks if I am entitled to the under-25 ticket deal… Lol, sadly not, £21.
12:20 p.m. — Well, that was very good. I always enjoy seeing original letters, it boggles my brain a little bit. I buy a postcard of Anne Boleyn from the gift shop — I do this after every exhibition I go to, £1. I’m just in time for the Portrait of the Day talk at 12:30 p.m. so I wait around for it to start.
1 p.m. — The talk was about a portrait of Malala Yousafzai. What a woman.
1:15 p.m. — Get the Tube back home, £3.40.
1:45 p.m. — Eat some leftover pizza, then it’s cleaning/playsuit-dyeing time.
6:45 p.m. — Why does having a massive sort-out feel so fulfilling? Kitchen is looking pretty darn good, if I say so myself. Have a beer and exchange messages with T.
7 p.m. — Mum calls. She knows I’m on my own again this eve so we tell each other about our days. She is also a big fan of the Tudors. My dad, my aunt and uncle shout contributions to the conversation from the background.
8 p.m. — I’ve defrosted a daal from the freezer and also found some onion bhajis in there so I end up having quite a nice dinner.
8:30 p.m. — There’s a bottle of chicken wine in the fridge so I treat myself to a lonely glass of rosé and more Shameless. Oh my god it makes me want a cigarette. I quit for good recently but sometimes I mourn being young and carefree enough not to care.
10:30 p.m. — Another large glass of wine means another early bedtime. Two quiet nights in hasn’t been as bad as I feared. Quite enjoyed it actu… Zzzzzz.
Total: £27.15
8 a.m. — Wake up v. refreshed after my 9.5-hour sleep. I really am a sleep brat.
9 a.m. — Tea and fruit and yoghurt for breakfast. Wander around the flat deciding what final bits to clean before heading out for the day. I’m going to see a friend who lives in Mexico as she is back in the UK. This is the first time I will meet her 8-month-old baby!
12 p.m. — I have to stop cleaning. Get myself ready instead.
12:30 p.m. — Leave for the bus to the train station. I stop at my favourite bookshop and buy two baby books, £15.98. Also stop to buy a sparkling water, £0.79.
12:45 p.m. — On the bus, £1.75. I also buy my train ticket, £10.40.
1:05 p.m. — Of course I just missed the train. Buy a little pack of vegetable gyoza as a snack while I wait for the next one, £2.30.
1:47 p.m. — I’ve arrived! Reunited with my friend as she picks me up from the station. We head to a brewery to meet her partner, her dad, his partner and the baby. We send a food order ahead — we both have a veggie burger.
2:15 p.m. — Rather a nice day to sit outside a brewery in the countryside. I have a pint of lager, £6. We catch up while trying to entice the baby to try little bits of food. I give the baby the books I bought and she enjoys chewing them.
3:30 p.m. — Go to pay the food bill but my friend’s dad has already paid and won’t accept any money. We drive back to his house to sit in the garden.
4 p.m. — Everyone else is napping inside so my friend and I have a lovely catch-up in the garden with a Pimms. It feels exactly the same as always — you wouldn’t know it’s been a year since we saw each other and that she has birthed a whole human since then.
4:30 p.m. — Baby has woken up so she joins us in the garden. We crack out the playmat and lounge and laugh while baby practises crawling and pulling herself up.
6:45 p.m. — Drop baby inside with her papa and my friend drives me back to the train station. It’s been so nice to see her. She’s my soul sister.
7:30 p.m. — Get the fast train so back in London v. quickly. Hop on a bus; I can use my train ticket (which turned out to be a zone 1-6 travel card) to pay for it.
8:15 p.m. — Back at the flat and D is back! Spend the rest of the evening catching up with her and her bf. Have a glass of rosé and a couple of crumpets for dinner.
10:30 p.m. — Heading to the office tomorrow so at least I have an excuse for an early bedtime… Just can’t beat it can you. RIP party girl days.
Total: £37.22
Food & Drink: £112
Clothes & Beauty: £118.10
Home & Health: £22.47
Entertainment: £21
Travel: £34.60
Other: £20.93
Total: £329.10
Conclusion
“It feels like I’ve spent quite a lot this week when I look at it written down like that. I wish I could say that it was an expensive week (I don’t normally have two beauty treatments in one month, let alone in one week) but to be completely honest it’s probably not that far off my usual spending. I normally do buy at least one item of clothing a week and yes, it was a large bar tab for a Thursday evening but most weeks I do end up on a big night out or two. There’s always something happening that means I save less than I intend to but I’m trying not to be too harsh with myself at this point in time. I’m sure there will come a point where I’ll have much more responsibility than I do now. Turns out girls (or 30-year-old women) do just wanna have fun.”
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